Schizo thread. Russ had a few MVP-like seasons without a wristband.
The thing about Wilson is his play was always uneven. I think it's more of a realization that Wilson wasn't all he was made up to be around here. He was a good QB, but he was very peaky. I said it in another thread, but the best comparison I can think of for Wilson is Barry Sanders.
Sounds odd right? Not if you analyze the type of player Sanders was. Sanders took more runs for losses than any other RB in history. He was a player that improvised a lot and abandoned structure. He was great at what he did but generally he'd just bide his time until he could break a huge run. He was a player with a lot of peaks and valleys, but an exceptional player all around.
Wilson is the same sort of player. His offensive structure was defined by the lack of structure. He thrived off of backyard style plays and big plays. He also had the same kind of elusiveness as Sanders in the backfield. The sudden start and stop ability and agility in spades. Wilson, like Sanders lived for the big plays.
The thing that Wilson never was able to do is move the ball consistently. With Geno Smith we're pulling off 10+ play drives for 80 plus yards, shaving huge amounts of time off the clock. Wilson always was waiting for that big play down the field. The methodical or the procedural stuff he never was good at.
Wilson was a great player, but in some ways I think he was an anchor around our necks. Despite his gaudy stats he always seemed to fade near the end of the year. That is why he never won MVP, he always had a late season slump of some sort.
In his later years, better teams seemed to be able to contain him pretty well. Another guy who I compare Wilson to is Ben Roethlisberger. They both have very similar career arcs, playing styles and setbacks. Wilson was a good QB, people tend to write him off too much, but at the same time he was also problematic for us in many ways.
I suspect our lack of playoff success since 2015 has a lot to do with Wilson and his uneven play. Even from quarter to quarter it was a gamble as to which Wilson you were going to get. Wilson in Denver has the same issue of being strong in one half and completely worthless in the other.
Oddly enough, I think the OC that understood him and his tendencies the most was Schottenheimer. The more I look back at Schotty's tenure here, the more I was impressed with how he was able to scheme away a lot of his issues, or rather mask them.
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